Adoption
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of changes to post-adoption support on the willingness of prospective adopters to come forward.
Answered by Josh MacAlister
Ministers have not made a formal assessment of the impact on prospective adopters of changes to post adoption support. Informal feedback has shown that adopters who withdrew after being approved have done so due to ill health, unsuccessful family finding, or adoption no longer being the right choice for them.
The changes to the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund (ASGSF) in the 2025/26 financial year were made to ensure support for all those applying. Analysis shows that in 2025/26, applications for users of the fund showed an average spend per recipient of £2,539 for therapy, well within the Fair Access Limit of £3,000. In the 2026/27 financial year, the overall budget for the ASGSF has been increased by 10% to £55 million.
We are currently considering responses to our consultation on the future of adoption support ‘Adoption Support that Works for All’. We want to develop practices so that families can access holistic assessments more promptly, and receive more coordinated support which evolves over time as their needs change. We plan to publish our response to the consultation later this year.
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